NEPRA imposes Rs975m fines on power firms

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has imposed penalties of Rs975 million on power distribution companies over the past few years for fatal and non-fatal accidents, with Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) topping the list.

IESCO faced Rs310 million in fines, followed by Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) with Rs117 million. Privatised K-Electric was fined Rs95.5 million across multiple years, including 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2024-25. Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) was fined Rs86 million, Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) Rs85 million, Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) Rs61 million, Gujranwala Electric Power Company (GEPCO) Rs54 million, Sukkur Electric Power Company (SEPCO) Rs53 million, Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) Rs51 million, and Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO) Rs42.5 million. The National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) was fined Rs10 million.

Of the total Rs975 million fines, Rs635 million were related to fatal accidents, while Rs330 million covered non-fatal cases. NEPRA noted that the high value of fatal fines also reflects persistent safety and compliance gaps across the power grid.

In fatal accident cases, IESCO again topped with Rs100 million in fines, followed by K-Electric with Rs95.5 million, HESCO Rs87 million, LESCO Rs76 million, MEPCO Rs51 million, GEPCO Rs44 million, SEPCO Rs43 million, FESCO Rs41 million, and QESCO Rs22.5 million.

For non-fatal accidents, IESCO faced Rs210 million in fines, followed by HESCO Rs30 million, QESCO Rs20 million.